The trends in the state elections show that the Congress party benefitted from anti-incumbency mood and outperformed the ruling BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – heralding significant gains in the Hindi heartland.
ThePrint asks: Can Congress build on state poll results or will Modi be harder to beat nationally in 2019?
Winds blowing across Hindi heartland have changed and will result in a different govt in 2019
Manish Tewari
National Spokesperson, Congress
State elections usually stick to their own dynamic. However, in the past 53 months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to personalise every election. Whether it’s a state election, or a local body election, or a larger parliamentary election as we saw in 2014, he has been at the forefront. Therefore, the verdict that has come from the Hindi heartland, which essentially comprises rural and agrarian states, is highly indicative of an atmosphere of change. The winds that are blowing across...

Waiting in the wings for 15 years to unseat the BJP, Congress presently seems to be falling just short of making this election all about itself.
Gwalior/Mandsaur: The 28-November election in Madhya Pradesh is tailor-made for the Congress.
An unmissable 15-year anti-incumbency sentiment against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, massive farmer anger, unrest in the business community over Centre's policies like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, and general voter fatigue — factors that should have been enough for any opposition to latch on to and create a decisive wave in its favour.
Yet, even though "badlaav (change)" is a favoured term among voters here, something is holding the Congress back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTD9JbN_OR0
The party, which has been waiting in the wings for over a decade and a half to unseat the BJP, at least at this point, seems to be falling just short of making this election all...